USA > Texas > Dallas County > Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas > Part 113
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Dr. James Drury Boyce was educated in the University of Mississippi, graduating with the class of 1872. He then began read- ing medicine under his father-the very best medical tuition in the world. He attended the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Ten- nessee, from which institution he graduated in 1876, after which he began the practice of his profession in Byhalia, Mississippi, remain- ing there till 1885. That year he came to Dallas, and since then has successfully con- ducted a practice here. He has been exam- ining physician for several insurance com- panies. He is a member of the following organizations: the Marshall County (Missis- sippi) Medical Association, Dallas County, Texas State and Tri-State Medical Associa- tions.
Dr. Boyce was married in 1880, to Miss
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Lena Wilson, daughter of Newton and Lucy Wilson, residents of Pleasant Hill, De Soto connty, Misissippi. Their union was blessed in the birth of three children, Gracie, Perry and Lena. Mrs. Boyce died on the 8th of August, 1890. Her only sister, Ella, is the wife of P. M. Black, and resides at Pleasant Hill, Mississippi. Their father died in 1878, aged fifty-five' years. He was a successful farmer, and was highly respected in the com- munity where he lived. The mother is still living, and makes her home with Dr. Boyce. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a lady of many amiable quali- ties that have endeared her to a large circle of friends here. The Doctor is a member of the Presbyterian Church, as also was his wife. Politically, he is a Democrat.
R. LAWRENCE ASHTON, a promi- nent physician and surgeon of Dallas, Texas, who was born in King George county, Virginia, August 29, 1845, son of Dr. Horace D. and Martha (Thornton) Ashton, both natives of the Old Dominion.
Dr. Horace D. Ashton, a ripe scholar and distinguished physician, is a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, with the class of 1840. He still has an extensive practice in Virginia, although lie is now seventy-two years of age. Ilis wife died March 2, 1891, aged seventy-one years. She was reared in the Episcopalian faith and was a devoted member of that church. She was a granddaughter of General Stewart, of Eutaw Springs fame. Of the nine children born to this worthy couple, the subject of our sketch is the eldest, and one of seven now living, all being in Virginia, near the old homestead except him. The youngest brother,
Stewart Thornton, is practicing medicine near Washington city.
Dr. Lawrence Ashton had the best of edu- cational advantages. Ile received his liter- ary training in the University of Virginia, and is a graduate of the medical department of the Columbian University of Washington, District of Columbia, with the class of 1872. He subsequently entered the University of New York, where he further pursued the study of his profession. After leaving col- lege he located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he at onee established himself in a large practice. IIe was about four years in the hos- pitals of New York, and practiced in Fred- erieksburg fifteen years. There he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, and gained distinction as a skilled physician. Soon after beginning practice he became a member of the Virginia Medical Society, of which he served as vice-president eight years, and as president one year. He is the originator of the law to regulate the practice of medicine in Virginia, and was on the Board of Exam- iners of the State for five years. He is an active member of the American Medical As- sociation, of which he was elected vice-presi- dent at the meeting in Chicago, in 1887. He is a member of the Texas State, the North Texas, and the Dallas County Medical Asso- ciations, and is a frequent contributor to va- rions medical journals.
Dr. Ashton was married in 1887 to Miss Nannie Green, daughter of Captain Duff Green, the Greens being a prominent Vir- ginia family. Mrs. Ashton is a member of the Episcopalian Church.
The Doctor has been a resident of Dallas since 1890, and soon after locating here found himself engaged in an extensive practice. He is keenly alive to the interests of his pro -* fession, and consequently finds little time for
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political matters. Hle is well-read on the general topics of the day, and is a most inter- esting conversationalist.
Dr. Ashton is a member of the Elks, of Dallas.
J. PARKS, an early pioneer and promi- nent citizen, was born in Monroe county, Indiana, July, 30, 1833, son of Curtice Amelia (Sharp) Parks, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Tennessee. These parents moved with their parents to Indiana when young, locating in Monroe county, where they were married, between 1825 and 1830. Mr. Curtice Parks was bronght up on a farm, was married about the age of twenty years, and continued to have charge of liis father's place near Elliottsville, Lawrence county, Indiana. He also ran a mill which he built near that town in 1838. His parents were George and Catharine (Reeds) Parks, both of whom were from Burke county, North Carolina, settling in Indiana before the Indians had left there, and there he spent the remainder of his days. His wife still survives, now making her liome with her son Curtice.
Early in 1848 Mr. Curtice Parks disposed of his interest in Indiana and came to Texas, landing here April 1 of the same year and taking section of land fifteen miles south of the city of Dallas. At this time the county had never had a courthouse or jail.
The subject of this sketcli, Mr. J. J. l'arks, labored upon the farin with his father until he reached his twenty-fourth year. When but twenty years of age he bought and paid for 116 acres of land, which he had improved to some extent before his marriage.
In December, 1862, he enlisted in the service of the Confederate army, in the Sec-
ond Partisan Texan Rangers, Company C. (Captain Crill Miller), Colonel W. B. Stone's regiment and General James Majors' brigade. He served most of the time in Louisiana, par- ticipating in the resistance to General Banks' expedition up the Red river. He had the good fortune to escape withont having been either captured or wounded.
By hard work and untiring energy he has improved his farm until now he is surrounded with all the comforts of a prosperous farmer's home. He is one of the charter members of the Wheatland Lodge of Freemasons, and he is also a member of the Odd Fellows order at De Soto.
He was marrred September 9, 1858, to Miss Margaret Elmira Elizabeth Voorhies, a native of Tennessee and the daughter of John and Angeline Voorhies, who came from Ten- nessee to Texas in 1851, setting in Dallas county near where De Soto now stands. By this marriage there were cight children, of whom five are still living, namely; Carrie V., wife of William Allen, near De Soto, this county; Ellen, wife of John Cheshire near Lancaster; J. C., who is married and lives in Ellis county, this State; Dana and Lena, who are still at home. In February, 1880, the mother of these children died, and Octo- ber 10, 1881, Mr. Parks married Mrs. Dora Wheatley, a sister of his first wife, and by this union there are two children: Odie E. and Rena.
HOMAS FRAMES BRENNAN, Bishi- op of the diocese of Dallas .- The dio- cese of Dallas comprises all of northern and northwestern Texas, from Lampasas to Texaline and from Texarkana to El Paso. Bishop Brennan was born in Cameron county, Pennsylvania, in 1855, a son of James and
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Margaret (Dnnn) Brennan, both natives of Ireland. At an early age Mr. Brennan went to France to complete a classic education, and several years afterward went to Germany and entered the famous university of Innspruck, where he graduated in 1880, with the degree of D. D. Then he spent a year at Rome. Altogether he was in Europe about twelve years. He also traveled a great deal in Europe, Asia and Africa.
After his return to this country he labored in the diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, as priest until December 21, 1891, when, by Pope Leo XIII. he was appointed as Bishop of Dal- las,-as Bishop of Northern and Northwest- ern Texas, with residence at Dallas. He is an eminent linguist, being able to speak in twenty different languages. He is efficient in his work, causing Catholicity to spring up as if by magic in this neglected region. To Dallas belongs the distinction of having the youngest bishop in the nation.
As an illustration of his pronounced pa- triotism, we quote from his address delivered on the occasion of St. Patrick's Day the fol- lowing: "America's mission of freedom can- not be declared fulfilled till Ireland stands redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled be- fore all the nations of the earth."
Incidentally he dwelt upon Irish societies, and showed how many sprang up in the days of persecution and oppression, notably the Fenian Brotherhood, had been misrepresented and misjudged. His words in this vein are not quoted, but the substance shows that the national feeling is not likely to be outraged without protest from this brave prelate, whose love for the old land is warm with apostolic fire from his consecration. Pointing to the American flag that hung at his right hand, the bishop passed a glorious panegyric upon it and the country that it stood for. "Its
bars," he said, "are emblematic of the blood that was shed under its folds for the cause of human liberty, and we live in the constant hope that this flag, or one similar to it, may soon float above the graves where our ances- tors and our heroes lie."
The broad character of Bishop Brennan was more clearly disclosed in his reference to the religious aspect of Ireland's wrongs. "Some of the grandest helpers, truest friends of Ireland," he said, "are numbered among thie Protestants, and her own people, Protestant as well as Catholic, have cast aside the differ- ences of religion and stood in the unity of common brotherhood for the cause of the Irish nation."
SAAC N. RANGE, a farmer of Dallas county, was born in Washington county, Tennessee, March 3, 1855, a son of John M. Range, who was born in the same county, March 27, 1820. He was married in 1850, to Catharine Clipper, who was born in 1834, and married at the age of sixteen years. Her father, Jacob Clipper, died at the age of seventy years. Isaac Range's maternal grand- parents have been dead several years, bothı living to a good old age. Mr. and Mrs. Range were the parents of sixteen children, viz .: Jacob B., Benjamin F., Isaac N., Mary E., John N., Martha (deceased), George W., James A. J., Sarah L., Alfred K., Kittie B., Thomas J., Noah, Eliza, Julia and Becks (deceased). Four of the sons are now in Texas, one in Oregon, and the remainder in Tennessee.
Isaac N. came to Texas September 9, 1876, when but twenty-one years of age, and for the first five years hired ont by the month, when he had saved enough to buy sixty acres of land. Since that time he has been adding
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
to his little farm until he now has 344 acres of fine land, where he has a good residence, and is now out of debt. He landed here with just $9 in money, and besides buying his land he has expended several hundred dollars in improving his farm. Mr. Range was married November 3, 1881, to Miss Fannie B. Monser, a daughter of F. M. Mouser, whose sketch appears in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Range have four children: John Fred, born August 15, 1882; Willia Mande, October 27, 1885; Oscar N., August 27, 1887; and Anna B., July 1, 1889. The parents have as yet not had the misfortune to lose a single member of their family. Mr. Range is a member of the Baptist Church, and Mrs. Range of the Catholic Church.
M M. PATION, of Garland, was born in Pickens county, South Carolina, July 21, 1860, a son of Isaac Pation, a native of the same county. The latter en- listed in the Southern army, and was captured at Columbus, Georgia, in 1862. He was never heard from afterward, and was supposed to have died in prison. His wife, nee Har- riet Johnson, was born in South Carolina in 1837, and is now living in Texas near her son. Mr. and Mrs. Pation were the parents of five children: Susan, Mark, M. M., John, and Eliza.
M. M. Pation, our subject, came to Texas, and first settled in Wise county, where he rented a farm and remained two years. He then bought forty acres of land, to which he afterward added forty acres more, but after three years sold this place and bought seventy acres three and a half miles southwest of Garland, which was then partially improved. He paid $28 per acre for this land, and has
now finished his improvements, and will soon be able to take life easy.
He was married August 23, 1885, to Eddie Lee, a daughter of William H. Lee, who was born in 1847: her mother, was Eliza (IIudles- ton) Lee. Mr. and Mrs. Pation have two children: Allie May and Bessie.
ILLIAM B. BELL, a farmer three miles west of Garland, was born in Collin connty, Texas, June 25, 1864, a son of Baxter M. Bell, a native of Tennes- see. The latter came to Texas about forty years ago, first settling at Mckinney, Collin county, and then in Dallas county, where he remained until his death, at the age of sixty- two years. He was married to Miss Lu Spurgon, who was born in Tennesse, but moved to this State in an early day, where she was married. She died in 1875, at the age of forty-five years. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have had five children: Lizzie, wife of T. L. Eldridge, of Rockwall, Texas; William B., our subject; Frank, who died at the age of seventeen years; and Charles. The father was three times married, first to Miss Taylor, and they had two children: H. N. and Ru- fus A. His third wife was Rachel Spurgon, and they had one child, S. Houston, now living in Garland.
William B. Bell moved to his farm three miles west of Garland after his marriage. which was left to him from his father's es- tate.
He was married February 8, 1885, to Miss Mary G., daughter of Willis Blankenship, who was born December 11, 1834, and died June 9, 1878, at the age of forty-five years. He was married October 17, 1866, to Georgia Strother. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have three
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
children, namely: Georgia L., born Deeem- ber 17, 1885; Leona, deceased; and Frank, born September 16, 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Bell are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the former is also a member of the Knights of Honor, Duek Creek Lodge, No. 2,729.
ILLIAM S. TALLY, of Garland, Dallas county, was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, August 28, 1827, a son of Obadiah Tally, who was also born in North Carolina, July 29, 1805. He was married in 1826, to Miss Sarah Parker, who was born July 1, 1808, and in 1831 they emigrated to Sumner county, Tennessee, where they lived ten years. They next moved to Allen county, Kentucky. where the father remained until his death in 1869, at the age of sixty-four years and five months, his wife having died at the age of thirty-six years. The father was afterward married to Polly Eaton, who died December 24, 1890, at the age of eighty years. Mr. Tally was the father of eleven children by his first wife, namely: William S., our subject; Eliza A., wife of William Cooper; Louis F .; Sarah J., wife of Henry Ragstale; David W., a twin brother of Sarah J .; Elizabeth G., wife of Stephen Dallas; Andrew J .; Adaline, wife of La Fayette Dallas; Mary A., who died un- married; Smith, also deceased; Naney E., wife of Thomas Dallas. The latter is now deceased, leaving two children, William and Mary, the youngest of whom is now living with her unele, William S. Tally, in Dallas county.
The subject of this sketeh went to Barren county, Kentucky, when twenty-one years of age, where he hired out as an overseer for
one year; next he rented a farm three years, and December 15, 1855, he landed in Dallas county, having but 75 cents in money. He rented land four years, from which he made enough to buy ninety-five aeres of unim- proved land. Ile now has a good farm of 112 aeres of choice black land. Mr. Tally enlisted in Warren B. Stone's regiment in the spring of 1862, and served until the elose of the war. He participated in the battles of Carrion Crow, Frudoce, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Peach Orehard, Maxwell Prai- rie, and many skirmishes. During the war Mr. Tally lost everything on his farm, and after returning home he had to eommenee life anew, but he applied himself strictly to business, and now has a comfortable home.
January 22, 1852, he was married to Miss Virginia Duff, who was born November 24, 1832, and they have had eight children: Sarah T., wife of James A. Foster; John F .; Amanda A., wife of De Witt Lane; George W .; James C., deceased; Richard W., who was robbed and murdered November 26, 1887; Virginia F., wife of Barry Sebastian; and Sarah Foster. who resides near her father. Mr. and Mrs. Tally lived to see all their children married, and the former is now sixty-four years of age, but hale and hearty. Both parents are members of the Baptist Church.
ILLIAM McDONALD, a farmer and stoek-raiser of Precinct No. 3, Dal- las county, was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, August 12, 1846, a son of Thomas MeDonald, a native of the same county. The latter moved to Texas in 1852, where he died four years later, at the age of forty-seven years. He was married to Miss Lueinda Bell, who died at the age of forty-
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five years, in the same county as her husband. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald had seven children: Alexander, who died in Bosque county, leav- ing a family of five children; Arthur W .; Hannah E., wife of J. McCalongh; Jane, who died when young; William, J. W., Thomas, Adaline, wife of M. M. Clark.
William McDonald, our subject, was six years of age when his father moved to Texas. His parents both died when he was young, and his eldest brother brought him to Collin county, to live with his uncle until he was twenty-one years old. While there he learned the carpenter's trade, and afterward worked on his own account as a contractor. After his marriage he worked at his trade, and also improved a farm of 100 acres, to which he has since added until he now owns 160 acres. Mr. McDonald started out in life with nothing but his trade, but was not long in gathering up enough to buy him a nice little home, which he has well cultivated and im- proved. He is a young man in years but old in knowledge.
He ,was married March 18, 1877, to Miss Mary Strother, who was born June 15, 1861, and was the eldest child of Joseph S. Strother. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald have four children: Marvin V ., Bertie E., Ethel and Vivian. Mr. Mc Donald is a member of the Masonic order, Duck Creek Lodge, No. 441, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church.
HOMAS UHL .- This gentleman re- sides on his fine farm of 675 acres, located nine miles south and two miles west of Dallas, and is ranked with the pros- perous and representative citizens of Dallas county.
Mr. Uhl was born in Allegany county,
Maryland, February 24, 1840, son of Archi- bald and Leo (Fleckinger) Ulıl. At the age of nine years Thomas Uhl was left an orphan, his mother dying and his father going to California. The family had moved to Macoupin county, Illinois, and after his mother's death he lived with different parties, working in summer and attending school in winter, generally doing the chores to pay for his board. In this manner he obtained his education. IIaving heard of the great advantages this country afforded, in the fall of 1858 he came South, bringing with him a herd of sheep for his brothers, Samuel and A. J. He remained here till abont the middle of winter, when he returned to Illi- nois, making the trip from Duncanville to St. Lonis on mule-back, taking with him a number of inules for his brothers. Having received a favorable impression of Texas, he returned South in the fall of 1859. After coming back he worked for his board with Mr. H. K. Brotherton, and attended school three months, at the end of which time he hired to Mr. Brotherton and remained with him till the fall of 1861. He then enlisted in what was originally Colonel B. W. Stone's regiment, Company F. In the spring of 1862 the command was reorganized and Colonel Ross was chosen commander. Pre- vious to its reorganization the command operated in Arkansas and the southwestern part of Missouri. On Christmas, 1861, they had a fight with the Indians on the headwaters of the Arkansas river. In April, 1862, they crossed the Mississippi river, and served in the States east of that river until the close of the war. In the spring of 1865 Mr. Uhl was sent home on furlough, where he remained till the general surrender a few months later.
After the war he began farming and dealing
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in stock, buying eattle, sheep, mules and horses, and driving them to Mississippi and Louisiana for market. He was the second man to fat- ten and market cattle in this section of the country. A portion of his land Mr. Uhl obtained through his marriage, but the greater part has been gained by his own skill and industry. It was all wild when he came into possession of it, and now all is fenced and a large portion under a high state of eultivation. In January, 1890, he began the dairy busi- ness on a small scale, and at this writing he has one of the finest dairies in the county. His home is an attractive one, and here he is surrounded with all the comforts of life.
April 10, 1867, Mr. Uhl was nnited in marriage with Miss Emily Branson, who was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, the daugh- ter of Thomas and Louise (Cole) Branson. (See Mr. Branson's biography in this volume.) Mr. and Mrs. Uhl have had three children, one dying in infaney. The others are W. Sterling and Leon Fox.
RAWFORD TREES, deceased, was born in Union county, Illinois, December 26, 1823, a son of Jacob and Catherine Trees, natives of Germany. The parents eame to the United States in an early day, being among the first settlers of the State of Illinois. Crawford, the youngest of their six children, lived with his parents until he eame to Texas in 1845. He settled on the farm where his widow now lives, in what was then known as Peters' Colony. In 1846 Dallas county was organized, and Mr. Trees was the first to obtain license to marry in the county. In 1849 he left his family for the gold fields of California, where he spent the greater part of two years, and as a reward for his adventure
he returned in the spring of 1851 with sev- eral thousand dollars in gold. With the ex- eeption of the two years spent in California his life was devoted to farming and stoek- raising, and by hard work and conservative dealings he amassed quite a fortune. Before his death, Jannary 31, 1889, he deeded to each one of his children a farm of 160 aeres, and at his death he left all his possessions to his widow, which amounted to about $40,000, consisting of 3,858 acres of land, stoek and eash. He lived to see what was a wild prai- rie, inhabited mostly by wild animals, con- verted into one of the finest farming sections in the State.
In 1846 Mr. Trees was married to Miss Annie Kimmel, a daughter of Daniel and Catherine Kimmel, who were of German de- seent. Mrs. Trees was born December 12, 1831, and when only fourteen years of age she came with her mother to Texas, her father having died in 1842. She is one of three children that came with her mother from Illinois in 1845, and settled on the farm where she now lives. Mr. and Mrs. Trees had ten children, viz .: Catherine, Beatrice, David, Philip W., Samuel H., Crawford, Texanie, Mary E., Lee and George W., all of whom Mrs. Trees has lived to see married except Lee, who still resides with her.
APTAIN MID PERRY, a successful farmer of Dallas county, was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, December 15, 1814, a son of Franklin and Rebeeea (Harbison) Perry, natives of Virginia. The parents were both reared in Kentneky, and in 1800, they moved to Indiana, settling in Jef- ferson county, three miles from the Ohio river. In 1817, they removed to Polk
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county, Illinois, six years later to Greene county, that State, where the father died in 1840, at the age of sixty-five years, and the mother in 1865, aged eighty-nine years. Mr. Perry in early life followed the stone mason's trade, but was a farmer later in life, and always lived on the frontier. The parents had ten children: Sarah, Eliza, Melinda, Western, Mary Jane, Franklin, Rebecca, Mid, Roderick Randolph and Alexander Wilson.
Mid Perry, the subject of this sketch, was reared mainly in Greene county, Illinois, where he received a limited common-school educa- tion. September 26, 1844, accompanied by his wife, his brother-in-law, Jones Greeve, and his family, he started for Texas. They made the trip with teams, reaching Lamar county on the north line of the State after five weeks, and settled on Pine creek, near Paris, the first week in November. Captain Perry had made a previous visit to Texas in 1837, coming as far as Red river and Lamar counties, but there being no settlements fur- ther West he did not penetrate the interior. At the time of his second coming, there was only a settlement or two in Dallas county, and Mr. Perry thought it best, therefore, to leave their families in Lamar county, while they looked over the country. They came on to Dallas county in the spring of 1845, and bought 320 acres of land each, from Judge E. L. R. Patton, of Brazos, lying on Ten Mile creek, about three miles east, and a lit- tle sonthi of where the village of Lancaster now stands. About the same time they each took a headright for 640 acres of land in the same locality, after which they returned to their families in Lamar county. In Novem- ber of the same year, they bronght their families to this county, settling on their claims, and Captain Perry still resides on the land which he took at that time. His and
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